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Breaking up is hard to do — it’s over between Festival of Friends and Gage Park
P. Morse
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...-and-gage-park
Hamilton’s TD Festival of Friends, the largest free music festival in Ontario, has ended its 35-year history with Gage Park.
Festival board of director Tara Crugnale, chairperson of the board’s venue transition team, confirmed Tuesday the festival will move to a larger location in Ancaster.
“The simple truth is that we have grown beyond Gage Park,” Crugnale said. “It provided us an awesome home for many years, but we have to grow.
“No one is going to say it was an easy decision. The board took a lot of time going over the positives and negatives, and at the end of the day we had to look at the confines of Gage Park.”
The festival formally informed city officials last month of its move to the Ancaster Fairgrounds at the corner of Highways 53 and 52, just south of Highway 403. A staff information report will be presented to elected officials at the emergency and community services committee meeting on Jan. 19.
Councillor Bernie Morelli, whose Ward 3 includes Gage Park, says he reluctantly agrees the park isn’t big enough for the festival anymore.
“I don’t want to see them leave the park, but it really is a growth issue,” he said Tuesday.
Morelli said it’s clear the festival has become a larger and more sophisticated operation.
“The Festival of Friends outgrowing the park is not something I’m pleased about in some respects, but they’re a great organization that has continued to grow.”
He said several plans are in the works for smaller music events in the park throughout the summer.
City culture officials say the festival has been working closely with them to provide transition details.
“I’m pleased that they wish to stay in Hamilton because it certainly is part of our history, and we have to respect that they are making a business decision,” said director of culture Anna Bradford. “Festival of Friends and Gage Park are intertwined; however, it really is up to them in where (the festival) needs to go.”
Because the move to Ancaster keeps the festival in Hamilton, any annual grants from the city wouldn’t be affected, Bradford said.
City staffers say a key problem is that festival crowds are putting an increasing pressure on a primary Gage Park Master Plan priority to protect trees in the city’s crown jewel park.
Protected trees restriction zones, particularly directly behind the band shell “means Festival of Friends has had to make permanent changes to their footprint that they’re not keen to do,” said Jennifer Kaye, city manager of arts and events.
Kaye said parking became an issue last year that the city was able to work out with the festival by implementing a special events parking plan in the neighbourhood east of the park.
“It’s mostly an example of the increasing lack of compatibility between an event of that scale in a residential neighbourhood,” she said. “More complaints are coming in. The festival is getting more complaints, the councillors are getting more complaints.”
Festival general manager Loren Lieberman said the festival is projected to hit a 2011 budget of $1.4 million — $420,000 to book the acts, $840,000 for production costs that include stage, sound and festival facilities, and $140,000 in salaries and administration.
“Our revenue streams have been maxed out at Gage Park,” Lieberman said. “The more money we bring in, the more money we spend on musical acts.”
Lieberman said the event is increasingly drawing crowds in excess of 30,000 to its mainstage night concerts.
“Our big nights are really big,” with Finger Eleven packing in close to 50,000 fans in 2009, he said. By comparison, the largest crowds in the 1980s would have reached around 20,000.
Ancaster Fairgrounds has parking for more than 5,000 vehicles, a 30,000-square-foot main building, a 36,000-square-foot show ring and close to a dozen outbuildings. The fairgrounds also have a paved bus loop for transit buses.
“This is a win-win-win” for Hamilton, Ancaster and the festival, Ancaster Councillor Lloyd Ferguson said Tuesday. “I am going to do whatever I can to make it a success.”
Ferguson said he plans to work with other councillors to advocate for free shuttle buses to take festivalgoers from Gage Park, downtown Hamilton and points on the Mountain to the fairgrounds.